Re: A ? for the parents of children with Apraxia of speech

[Guest guest]

Dear Leighanne,

The following is taken from a website: www.apraxia-kids.org

" What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder. For reasons

not yet fully understood, children with apraxia of speech have great

difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and

specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that

are necessary for intelligible speech. Apraxia of speech is sometimes

called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal

dyspraxia. No matter what name is used, the most important concept is

the root word " praxis. " Praxis means planned movement. To some degree

or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has

difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of

speech is a specific speech disorder.

The act of speech begins with an intention to communicate. Next, an

idea forms, outlining what the speaker wants to say. The words for

the desired message are put in the correct order, using the correct

grammar. Each of the words are comprised of a specific sequence of

sounds (also called phonemes)and syllables that must be ordered

together. All of this information is translated from an idea and

information about order of sounds into a series of highly coordinated

motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate.

The brain must tell the muscles of these " articulators " the exact

order and timing of movements so that the words in the message are

properly articulated. Finally, the muscles must work properly with

enough strength and muscle tone to perform the movements needed for

speech.

In typically developing speech, children make word attempts and get

feedback from others and from their own internal systems regarding

how " well " the words they produced matched the ones that they wanted

to produce. Children use this information the next time they attempt

the words and essentially are able to " learn from experience. "

Usually once syllables and words are spoken repeatedly, the speech

motor act becomes automatic. Speech motor plans and programs are

stored in the brain and can be accessed effortlessly when they are

needed. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty in this

aspect of speech. It is believed that children with CAS may not be

able to form or access speech motor plans and programs or that these

plans and programs are faulty for some reason. "

It will be good to get in to see the developmental ped. who will be

able to offer you more wisdom or refer you to someone who can. How

does your son make out with eating; does his lack of tongue movement

also pose difficulties in this area? If there are no swallowing

issues (or allergies), you may want to try sticky foods which can

sometimes help to get the tongue and jaw in motion i.e. raisins and

peanut-butter.

Good-luck and let us know how your appointment goes. - Velvet

>

> I was just wandering what some of the " signs/symptoms " of apraxia

are. I have been wondering if my son's really low oral motor skills

and control could be associated with that. I was also wondering if

apraxia could be why he can't move his tongue around hardly at all.

I've asked his ST about this and she says it is a good possibility

but that she couldn't and wouldn't diagnose him or say yes or no that

that was what he might have. We go on the 7th of Febuary to see the

Dev Ped and I'll be brining all of this up to her also. One last

thing, does anyone know of a good website or book that has some good

oral motor excercises and some good ways to get him to do them. He's

34 months old and we have a set of excercises to do right now, but

getting him to do them is like pulling teeth sometimes. He wants to

look at the page and the cat picture on it but that's as far as it

goes. Even his ST has trouble getting him to do them for her. Well

thanks everyone for the help and support during my

> time of uncertanty.

>

>

> Leighanne

[Guest guest]

This is from: www.apraxia.ca (a Canadian website called ECHO)

Some symptoms that may indicate developmental apraxia of speech

include:

Little or no babbling as an infant

Difficulty imitating sounds/words

Very few consonant sounds

Possibly limited vowel sounds as well

Showing signs of frustration with inability to communicate

Late onset of first words

Uses grunts, gestures and other non-verbal forms of communication

Leaves out sounds or substitutes incorrect sounds in words

Often inconsistent or unpredictable speech errors

Severely unclear speech or speech attempts

May show groping with their mouth when attempting to speak

Makes slow or no progress with traditional speech therapy

>

> >

> > I was just wandering what some of the " signs/symptoms " of apraxia

> are. > > Leighanne

>

[Guest guest]

Velvet,

The only problem has with his eating is that he over stuffs his mouth

with food and then tries to swallow it all at once which usually (9 times out of

10) results in him choking. He usually gets it up or down on his own though. I'm

not sure if this is because of his Sensory stuff or oral motor issues or just

normal toddler behaviour. Thanks for the website info you provided also.

Leighanne

Velvet <johnvel@...> wrote:

Dear Leighanne,

The following is taken from a website: www.apraxia-kids.org

" What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder. For reasons

not yet fully understood, children with apraxia of speech have great

difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and

specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that

are necessary for intelligible speech. Apraxia of speech is sometimes

called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal

dyspraxia. No matter what name is used, the most important concept is

the root word " praxis. " Praxis means planned movement. To some degree

or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has

difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of

speech is a specific speech disorder.

The act of speech begins with an intention to communicate. Next, an

idea forms, outlining what the speaker wants to say. The words for

the desired message are put in the correct order, using the correct

grammar. Each of the words are comprised of a specific sequence of

sounds (also called phonemes)and syllables that must be ordered

together. All of this information is translated from an idea and

information about order of sounds into a series of highly coordinated

motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate.

The brain must tell the muscles of these " articulators " the exact

order and timing of movements so that the words in the message are

properly articulated. Finally, the muscles must work properly with

enough strength and muscle tone to perform the movements needed for

speech.

In typically developing speech, children make word attempts and get

feedback from others and from their own internal systems regarding

how " well " the words they produced matched the ones that they wanted

to produce. Children use this information the next time they attempt

the words and essentially are able to " learn from experience. "

Usually once syllables and words are spoken repeatedly, the speech

motor act becomes automatic. Speech motor plans and programs are

stored in the brain and can be accessed effortlessly when they are

needed. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty in this

aspect of speech. It is believed that children with CAS may not be

able to form or access speech motor plans and programs or that these

plans and programs are faulty for some reason. "

It will be good to get in to see the developmental ped. who will be

able to offer you more wisdom or refer you to someone who can. How

does your son make out with eating; does his lack of tongue movement

also pose difficulties in this area? If there are no swallowing

issues (or allergies), you may want to try sticky foods which can

sometimes help to get the tongue and jaw in motion i.e. raisins and

peanut-butter.

Good-luck and let us know how your appointment goes. - Velvet

>

> I was just wandering what some of the " signs/symptoms " of apraxia

are. I have been wondering if my son's really low oral motor skills

and control could be associated with that. I was also wondering if

apraxia could be why he can't move his tongue around hardly at all.

I've asked his ST about this and she says it is a good possibility

but that she couldn't and wouldn't diagnose him or say yes or no that

that was what he might have. We go on the 7th of Febuary to see the

Dev Ped and I'll be brining all of this up to her also. One last

thing, does anyone know of a good website or book that has some good

oral motor excercises and some good ways to get him to do them. He's

34 months old and we have a set of excercises to do right now, but

getting him to do them is like pulling teeth sometimes. He wants to

look at the page and the cat picture on it but that's as far as it

goes. Even his ST has trouble getting him to do them for her. Well

thanks everyone for the help and support during my

> time of uncertanty.

>

>

> Leighanne

[Guest guest]

One last thing, does anyone

know of a good website or book that has some good oral motor excercises and

some good ways to get him to do them. He's 34 months old and we have a set of

excercises to do right now, but getting him to do them is like pulling teeth

sometimes. He wants to look at the page and the cat picture on it but that's as

far as it goes. Even his ST has trouble getting him to do them for her. Well

thanks everyone for the help and support during my time of uncertanty.

Leighanne

********Hi Leighanne, what comes to my

mind is to read him nursery rhymes that are especially silly. Read the rhyme in

a sing song voice with lots of expression and exaggerated mouth movements.

Then have him repeat the lines after you read a line.…Something

like Higgelty piggelty POP, the mouse ran up the CLOCK, the clock struck ONE

and down he RUN, HIGGELTY, PIGGELTY POP! My son loved this rhyme. Also, lots of

Dr. Seuss would be good for this. One Fish, Two Fish, red fish, blue fish (something

like that)… I’d go for the nursery rhymes and you could get your

son’s stuffed animals involved……….Gail ,13

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